Hutchison struck out a season-high 10 batters and Jose Bautista belted one of two Toronto homers.

Jays starter Drew Hutchison struck out a season-high 10 Brewers in a stellar Canada Day performance at the Rogers Centre.

By:Gregory StrongThe Canadian Press, Published on Tue Jul 01 2014

The Blue Jays have come close to falling out of first place in the American League East thanks to a recent slide.

An excellent start from Drew Hutchison and the return of Jose Bautista helped provide a little breathing room in the divisional race while ending a three-game losing skid at the same time.

Hutchison struck out a season-high 10 batters and Bautista belted one of two Toronto homers as the Blue Jays defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 4-1 in front of a sellout crowd on Canada Day at Rogers Centre.

The Toronto right-hander was dominant early on, retiring the first 14 batters he faced. Three relievers combined on the four-hitter as the Blue Jays moved 1 ½ games ahead of second-place Baltimore.

“When he’s on, he’s on,” Toronto manager John Gibbons said of his starter. “He can be really, really good.”

Bautista, meanwhile, gave his team an early lead with a no-doubt blast off Marco Estrada (7-5) that hit the facing of the second deck. It was the first start for the Toronto slugger since he strained his left hamstring on June 22.

Colby Rasmus hit a solo shot in the fifth inning for the Blue Jays (46-39), who added some late insurance with a two-run eighth inning. Hutchison improved to 6-6 with his sixth quality start of the season.

“A dynamite fastball and a good breaking ball,” Gibbons said. “He got lots of strikeouts. They’re a very aggressive hitting team over there so he got a lot of strikeouts up in the zone. But his fastball had a little extra life.”

Aaron Loup, Dustin McGowan and Casey Janssen completed the four-hitter. Janssen worked the ninth inning for his 13th save.

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